Stop the Fighting
by Kota Magic
Summary: *COMPLETE* Shippo's had enough of Inu Yasha and Kagome's arguments, so he devises a plan to put a stop to them. Rating is for IY's mouth.
1. Part 1

**Stop the Fighting**

**Part 1**

One sunny day in the feudal period, the shard-hunting group had settled down for a well-earned break. Everything was peaceful… that is, except for the ear-spitting sounds of Inu Yasha and Kagome arguing. 

"You didn't have to hit Shippo that hard!" hollered Kagome. 

"The brat was fucking choking!" Inu Yasha bellowed back. "If you didn't let him go through your bag like you do, it wouldn't have happened!" 

"If you hadn't scared him, he wouldn't have choked!" 

"If you didn't give him so much fucking candy, NONE of this would've happened!" 

"Well, SOMEBODY has to take care of him! He's just a little kid that needs love and attention, and I sure as hell don't see YOU GIVING ANY!!" 

"That brat is fucking spoiled rotten because of you! If you didn't spoil him so fucking much, he wouldn't be up my ass all time!" 

"He just wants to play with you!" 

"And piss me off!" 

"That's 'cause you have no patience!" 

"BULLSHIT! If he did half the shit he does to me to you, I don't think you'd be giving him ANY fucking candy for the rest of his fucking life!" 

"Maybe if you were a little more CIVIL when you quote unquote 'punish' him, he'd have just a little respect for you!" 

"I AM CIVIL about it! I smack him, tell him to knock it off, end of story!" 

"Well apparently you're not getting the message across if he's still doing it!" 

"The brat does it 'cause he knows he can run to you afterwards!" 

While all of this was going on, two humans and two youkai were sitting some distance away, listening to the entire ordeal. Miroku was trying to relax with a cup of tea, but it was obvious from his angry eyebrow twitching that he was anything but relaxed. Sango was polishing her giant boomerang as best she could, but her aggravated, hard swipes verged on sanding down the weapon. Kirara was curled up in a ball on Miroku's lap, but no matter how tightly she balled up, her sensitive ears continued to tingle from the noise. 

Little Shippo was seated a bit away from the others, his face staring hard at the ground and his fists tight like onigirimeshi. If Miroku or Kagome had been paying attention, they would've noticed the fox's youki flaring slightly. It wasn't until the last moment that Miroku finally looked up. 

"… Inu Yasha, you're such a jerk! OSUWARI!" 

*CRASH!* 

"OW! DAMNIT, BITCH!" 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Everyone froze as Shippo screamed his lungs out louder than any of them would have thought possible. Inu Yasha was stunned into silence. Kagome got quiet fast too. Sango and Miroku covered their ears. Kirara simply gave up. 

Shippo's screaming turned into all out crying, with big, fat, crocodile tears streaming down his face. Kagome moved to pick him up, but he scooted away, running off into the bushes by himself. 

"Shippo!" Kagome cried. 

"Shippo! Come back!" Sango dropped her boomerang as she bolted to her feet. She quickly joined Kagome in chasing the child into to brush. 

"Stupid brat…" Inu Yasha grumbled as he recovered from the spell. "Now I've gotta go find him before some other youkai does!" With that, Inu Yasha joined the chase. 

Running and crying, Shippo neither noticed nor cared that he was getting scratched and cut on all the rough vegetation he was rushing through. He could hear the others coming up behind him, and he blindly reached into his shirt for some of his leaves. Using his fox magic, he turned the leaves into several copies of himself, which in turn headed off in different directions. That done, found an indent in the side of tree, curled up in it, and sobbed quietly. 

Elsewhere, Kagome, Sango, and Inu Yasha caught up with Shippo's copies and quickly pursued them. Inu Yasha was about to chase one of them when his nose told him truth. 

"_He sure as hell doesn't want to be found._" the hanyou remarked to himself. "_But I'll have to find or the girls'll get pissed._" 

He dropped down to all fours and inhaled deeply. The kit's magic scent flooded the area, but there was one distinct trail leading off in the direction the girls certainly weren't. It was the real Shippo's actual path, and Inu Yasha followed it closely. 

It didn't take too long for Inu Yasha to find the boy. Before he'd even gotten close, the kit's sniffling gave his location away. The hanyou approached, intending to grab him by the scruff of the neck single-handedly as usual, then paused. 

"_Maybe if you were a little more CIVIL when you 'punish' him, he'd have just a little respect for you!_" 

Inu Yasha reached for the boy - with both hands - and lifted him into his arms. But Shippo would not have any of it. 

"Put me down!" he wailed, squirming every which way possible. "Leave me alone, you big jerk!" 

"The girls are looking for you, brat!" Inu Yasha growled. "They're worried sick!" 

"What do YOU care?" Shippo retorted. "Oh right! Kagome probably threatened to flatten you if you didn't help 'cause otherwise you wouldn't give a shit about-" 

*WHAP!* 

"OW!" the fox squeaked as Inu Yasha's hand came down on his nose. He covered it as if to protect it from the ensuing stinging which came moments later. That was when Shippo realized something - Inu Yasha had struck _only_ his nose. 

"You hit me…!" the child's tone was more surprised than angry. 

"Don't you ever say that again, you little pest." the hanyou's voice was low and deadly serious. "If I didn't give two shits about you, you'd be an ascot around Manten's neck right now, remember? I could've EASILY left you behind, do you hear me!?" 

"You're lying!" Shippo sobbed, tears flowing freely again. "I'm only here 'cause Kagome loves me!" 

"You're here 'cause I didn't want you turning out like me!" Inu Yasha's growl escalated into a sharp snarl. "You and I have a lot in common, Shippo, whether you fucking believe it or not. The only difference is that someone took you in - I DIDN'T GET THAT FUCKING LUXURY!" 

Shippo was stunned into silence. For the first time, the little boy saw something else in the older demon's eyes, and it made him regret all the ear-biting and insults he had ever done. Unsure of how to react, he resumed his quiet sobbing. Inu Yasha just shook his head and started heading back to the camp. Shippo buried his little face into Inu Yasha's haori and sniffled himself to sleep. 

*********************************************************

It was nighttime when Shippo finally woke up from his nap. All that screaming and running had tuckered him out, but now he was awake and looking around. 

The others were already in bed and asleep, and without even looking, the little boy knew that it was Kagome curled up next to him in the sleeping bag. Cautiously, he slithered his way out, sat up, and yawned. Looking down at his arms and legs, he found them all bandaged up securely. He sighed, his ears twitching at the light sound of footsteps. Kirara plodded over to him, stretched, and yawned, giving the fox a full view of her sharp, tiny fangs. 

"Can't sleep, Kirara?" the little boy rubbed his eyes. 

Kirara shook her head, and as though to answer why, a slap was heard from Sango and Miroku's end of the camp. 

"Me neither." He said, ambling to his feet. "Come on, let's go for a walk." 

The two youkai headed off casually, stopping off well within screaming distance in case anything attacked them. There, they plopped down for a chat. 

"I'm tired of Inu Yasha and Kagome fighting all the time, aren't you?" 

Kirara nodded. 

"I wish there was something I could do to make them stop and say what they really mean to each other. I don't get why they just won't come out and say they like each other…" 

The cat youkai replied by licking at her paw. 

"Inu Yasha was actually somewhat nice to me today… I gotta make it up to him, but I don't know how." 

"Mrow?" 

"Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but I mean it! He didn't hit me or nothing when he came to get me! Not the way he usually does anyway..." 

"Mrrrrw…" 

"What I wanna know is how I can make it up him in return… hmm…" 

Shippo sat there, side by side with Kirara. His arms and legs were crossed the way Inu Yasha's often were and his face scrunched up in thought. After a short time, he got up suddenly and snapped his fingers. 

"I think I've got an idea!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I honestly shouldn't be starting a new fic, but WHOA! (ducks miscellaneous projectiles) I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Stop throwing stuff! Please!!! I promise this'll be a quick one, HONEST! Chapter 2 is already well in the works and I know how it'll all turn out, so PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!!

onigirimeshi = rice balls

What's Shippo's little plan? You'll have to wait for chapter 2! 

As usual, whether you liked it or hated it, tell me!


	2. Part 2

**Stop the Fighting**

**Part 2**

Shippo watched patiently as Kagome gathered her toiletries so she could take a bath. They'd come across a small spring, and since it had been such a hot day, Kagome had insisted that they all take turns using to wash up. She had warned Inu Yasha and Miroku the dangers of peeking, and once she had all her things together, she headed down to the spring. Sango had declined joining her friend in favor of taking one later after hunting down supper. 

"_This is perfect!_" Shippo thought to himself. "_I don't think I could've planned this any better!_" 

Inu Yasha sat slumped in typical fashion against the trunk of a tree. Miroku looked as though he direly wanted to get a glimpse of Kagome unclothed, but a warning glare and growl from the hanyou made him give up that idea quickly. Shippo saw this as his cue. 

"I'm gonna go swim with Kagome." he announced, heading off into the brush. 

"Oh no you're not!" Inu Yasha got up and moved to retrieve the boy. "You're staying right here!" 

In a rapid gesture, Shippo gave Inu Yasha the raspberries and sprinted off into the woods. 

"You little shit! GET BACK HERE!" 

**************************************************

Shippo giggled merrily as he darted to and fro through the undergrowth. Sensing that Inu Yasha was still a good ways behind him, he pulled two leaves from inside of his shirt. He held one out and concentrated his fox magic on it. 

"Copy!" 

The leaf instantly transformed into an exact replica of him and sprinted off towards the spring. Shippo stopped in his tracks and popped the other leaf onto his head. 

"Change!" 

The fox's form shifted into that of a small, pink bubble that floated up off the ground and downwind of Inu Yasha's location. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he landed nimbly on a tree branch and settled in. He still had to concentrate to keep his copy going, after all! 

Inu Yasha's nose led him to where the Shippo had created the copy and taken flight. The amount of Shippo's scent permeating the area made him suspicious of the fox's actions, and he paused to take in every molecule of scent there was. There were two trails-one along the ground and the other just hovering in the air. One of them HAD to be a copy, and Inu Yasha deduced that the airborne one had to be it. A bit of movement caught his eye and when he turned, he spotted what he thought to be the real Shippo. 

"Give ME a hard time, will you?" the hanyou growled. "We'll see about THAT!" 

*******************************

From his perch in the tree, Shippo was practically rocking with laughter. In fact, it took all the little boy had not to fall from the branch he'd been sitting on. 

"I don't believe it! It actually worked! He fell for it!" 

It had taken much of last night set things up, but now that it was working, it had all been worth it. Shippo and Kirara had gone off deeper into the woods and collected some leaves. Then, the two of them ran around, purposely working up a good sweat. Once finally exhausted, Shippo took a couple of the leaves and rubbed them against his skin. The leaves picked up his scent, so much so that it was hard for him to tell where more of the odor actually was. 

But he still had to test his project to know if it would really work. Taking off his obi, Shippo used the belt to blindfold Kirara. Then, he had the cat youkai try to differentiate between him and the leaves using only her nose. Even though Kirara had chosen correctly in the end, she had had to get her nose very close to both the boy and the leaves in order to tell them apart. Shippo literally backflipped at his success. If a full-blooded youkai like Kirara had to take her time, then fooling Inu Yasha's hanyou nose would be a cinch. 

********************************

Not far from the spring, Inu Yasha was hot on the copy's trail. Even though something in the back of his mind kept telling him something was up, he continued to pursue the arrogant little puffball, certain that by the strength of its scent that it HAD to be Shippo. 

Right at the edge of the spring, the copy sprang into the air, all set up to hit the water below. Just as it was about to take the plunge, Inu Yasha leapt up and caught it. 

"Gotcha!" the hanyou cried victoriously. But the moment was short lived. As soon as he grabbed the copy, it popped back into its original shape, leaving him up in the air with no place to land but the spring. 

"Oh… SHIT!" he yelled as the lukewarm water surrounded him. Kagome turned around sharply, scanning the water for whatever intruder had disturbed her bath. Seconds later, one soggy half-doggie broke through the surface, and her temper flared dangerously. 

"YOU HENTAI! OSUWARI!!!!!!!!" she screamed. 

*SPLOOSH!* 

Kagome made a grab for her towel and wrapped it tightly over her body. Inu Yasha surfaced, coughing and hacking up most the water he had swallowed. He shook most of the water from his dripping bangs before opening his eyes cautiously. 

"I can't believe you!" Kagome fumed. "After all that warning, you STILL showed up to peep on me! You hentai!" 

"ME the hentai!" Inu Yasha paused to shake more water off of his face. "Look, bitch, I'm gonna make this simple. I am NOT here to peep on you! I was chasing Shippo when I accidentally followed his little copy instead of him…speaking of Shippo, where is he?" 

"He's not here, that's for sure!" 

"You're fucking kidding me!" 

"Look around, Inu Yasha! Do you see him anywhere? Um… on second thought, why don't you just turn around. The last thing I need is you to be ogling me." 

"Feh! As if I would!" He turned around nonetheless. 

Kagome's tone turned more and more sarcastic by the letter. 

"Oh yeah, that's right! You wouldn't want to ogle ME when you'd rather ogle HER instead!" 

"WHAT?!" 

"You heard me! It's all fine and dandy to stare at me 'cause I'm around all the time, but the second SHE shows up, it's 'Kagome? Who's THAT bitch?'" 

"WHAT THE FUCK MAKES YOU THINK THAT!?" 

"Oh please! Whenever Kikyou shows up, it's like I don't even exist! You can't deny THAT, Inu Yasha!" 

"She's my responsibility!" 

"She's your LOVER, for all I care!" 

"She's not my lover! Why the fuck DO YOU care!? Are you jealous or something?!" 

"I--!" 

Kagome's voice caught in her throat. For once she had neither an answer nor a reason to subdue him again. 

"Th-That has nothing to do this!" she stuttered. 

"Bullshit it doesn't! It has EVERYTHING to do with this conversation! You're fucking jealous of Kikyou, AREN'T YOU?!" 

"S-SO WHAT IF I AM!!!" Tears mingled with the water dripping off her face. "It's not like it matters to you!" 

"It matters PLENTY to me, damnit! But while you're standing there, being jealous of her, how the fuck do you think I feel every time you go home for those 'tests' of yours and come back smelling like that Hoho bastard!?" 

"EXCUSE ME??" 

"Don't lie to me! I know you're seeing that stupid human male back in your world. You can't deny it! I can smell him almost every time!" 

"I AM NOT SEEING HIM! AND HIS NAME IS HOJO!" 

"Whatever! You still come back smelling like him!" 

"Because he's constantly asking me out!" 

"What does that mean?" 

"It means that he wants to go out on a date with me, take me to see a movie, er,… big TV-like thing, and stuff like that." 

"And do you accept?" 

"Not willingly. My friends are the ones always pushing me into it." 

"A likely story!" 

"Inu Yasha, I mean it! And besides, even if I did like that naïve upperclassman, I don't have time for dates and stuff with him." 

"And why not?" 

"Because I'm always here with YOU, that's why!" 

"Then it looks like we're at a stalemate. You're jealous of Kikyou and I'm jealous Hojo." 

There was pause in their conversation as Kagome stared at Inu Yasha's backside. She was sure she was dreaming. 

"D-Did you just… ADMIT that you're jealous of Hojo?" Kagome stuttered. 

"Why the fuck not? You just as well admitted you're jealous of Kikyou. What the fuck do I have to lose?" 

"W-Why are YOU jealous of Hojo?" 

"Probably the same reason that you're jealous Kikyou." 

Another pause ensued. Kagome fidgeted absent-mindedly with her towel, taking care to cover her peeking cleavage without exposing anything below the water. Her silence prompted Inu Yasha into taking a cautious glance over his shoulder at her. Eventually, he turned around and faced her fully. 

"S/he's got you…" they uttered simultaneously, then blinked, surprised by the coincidence. 

"Inu Yasha…" Kagome started. 

"It's alright." He replied abruptly, heading for the shore. "I'll go now." 

Kagome moved to stop him, but words escaped her. What could she do? Ask him to stay in the water with her? How would THAT sound? 

"N-NO! No!" came a tiny voice, followed by a splash. 

Kagome and Inu Yasha turned to see Shippo doggie-paddling his way over to them. He wiggled over to Kagome and clung to her, careful not to pull on her towel. 

"No! You gotta do it! You gotta finish what you were saying!" the little boy pleaded. "You gotta! You just gotta!" 

"Shippo! What are you-when did you get here?" sputtered Kagome. 

"_Little shit… I get it now!_" Inu Yasha realized. "_He set this whole thing up! Gotta hand it to him, though... that was pretty clever!_" 

"I get it now, Shippo." The hanyou gently plucked the boy from Kagome's arms. "Now go back to the camp and wait for us, ok?" 

"You're not gonna hit me?" the fox asked curiously. 

"Do you WANT me to hit you?" Inu Yasha smirked devilishly. 

"NO!" 

"Then go back to camp. We'll be back in a little while." 

"Um… ok!" 

With that Inu Yasha carried him over and set him on dry land. Shippo shook as much water off as possible, glanced back once more at Inu Yasha, then scampered away. 

Once Shippo was out of sight, Inu Yasha returned to Kagome's side, a bit amused by the puzzled look in her eyes. 

"I don't get it… what was all that about?" she asked. 

"It's a long story…" Inu Yasha spoke softly, leaning his face closer to hers. "A story with a happy ending…" 

**THE END**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa! I actually finished a fic! Yay! (And there is much rejoicing!) First off, I wanna apologize for any OOC-iness occuring in this fic. Secondly, yes, I am aware that Inu Yasha swears excessively, but honestly, if I were in his position, my words wouldn't be too clean either. Thirdly and finally, I am not finishing this off with Inu Yasha's explanations (and anything occuring afterwards) not only because I feel that sort of thing has been done to death, but because everyone is entitled to their opinions of what would be said in that conversation and don't want to spoil it for those who would rather imagine it themselves.

As usual, like it? Hate it? Tell me!


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